Susan Boyle, anti-style icon

What I loved about Susan Boyle’s performance is how the fans started cheering as soon as she started singing! Her performance was magnificent, and this kind of "diamond in the rough" performance is exactly what the show Britain’s Got Talent was made for, and you could tell by Simon Cowell’s face that he’d struck gold. In an industry too often emphasizing style over substance, along comes Susan Boyle with the opposite mix: all substance no style!

Of course the idea isn’t to have style or substance, but both, and whenever I work with new artists, helping bring them up to a level where they’ll get their big shot, inevitably I get asked what their "shot" will be like, what should they be ready for? I guess the stereotype is the musician giving a triumphant performance and a someone from the record label offering them a contract backstage, right then and there, but in reality it’s a much more arduous process involving meetings and more performances.

No matter how much work we put into their look, I like to tell artists to be ready for this moment: you’re in an office with a bunch of record label people, and they ask you to sing, a capella, right there and then. If you’re not ready for that moment then you’re not ready, and no amount of styling will fix that.

Styling can get you that chance though, and actually you usually don’t get the chance to show your talent without looking the part, which is what makes Susan Boyle’s story so great – she got her shot in spite of how she looks, although now she’s in full makeover mode now! I hope we see more of her, she’s definitely got the talent!

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